So, I've been thinking about doing a strategic unlock kingdom for quest items recently, to see if the quest item preparation can be broken to essentially turn it into an "in-dungeon locker". I'm building up my unlock list, and I want to bounce some ideas of the forum community here.
Definitely yes:
Elite Items - great items to have in my pool, especially with a heightened chance of the gloves of midas
Trisword - this should go without saying
Gloves of Midas - this too
Martyr Wraps - when it comes to attrition battles, this is an unmatched items.
Agnostic Collar - free piety and indulgences; can't go wrong with that
Vampiric Blade - overheal and effective damage reduction; what's not to love?
Fire Heart - % based heal; this should work quite well
Venom Ward - wouldn't leave home without it
Soul Orb - this either
Maybe:
Stone Sigil - this will unlock the church veto slot, so this is effectively a swapout rather than addition to the shop pool.
Whurrgarbl - strong pick, but I'm afraid it's the poor man's martyr wraps
Crystal Ball - as Sidestepper said in another thread, this is an item you want lockered and vetoed at the same time. I'm torn.
No Way:
Battlemage Ring: the effect is decent, but not locker-worthy, too expensive, and has horrible CP. Pass.
Witchalok Pendant: no
Platemail: too specialized
Balanced Dagger: if this kingdom were being hand-tailored for VGT then I'd say yes, but outside of that one dungeon, I never want to see this item. If I have a spare veto slot it could be worth swapping in and out, though.
Venom Dagger: actually not bad as CP fodder, but that's a consolation prize; not something for my ideal shop pool.
Mage Plate: way too specialized
Blue Bead: too low shop density; the effect is actually rather nice, but I'd rather see something more robust in its place.
Hard to Avoid:
Piercing Wand, Rock Heart, and Hero's Helm - these ones are kind of in your way along the naturally game's progression. Not sure if they can realistically be avoided.
Vetos
Seeing as the church is the only building veto slot available (since fighter silver, assassin silver, and wizard silver are intentionally being avoided), and gold-wise it's unlikely I'll stick with this kingdom long enough to purchase more than one veto slot, that's two veto slots tops. Probably these will be sunk on the "couldn't avoid" items like rock heart and piercing wand.
Now, I'm thinking I probably need to prune rather than add to my list to get the maximum possible chance of getting the items I really want - gloves of midas, agnostic collar, and trisword - that are virtually always useful. However, I'm having trouble whittling it down further. Thoughts?